十六面小壷(香炉)は能作で｜日常に使えるアイテム
Hard times on the polo circuit
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Domingo questel crouches forward in the saddle, his horse’s hoofs digging up divots in the plush, closely cropped grass.His left arm extended, he swings his mallet and, with one long, pendular swipe, sends a small white ball sailing to the far end of the field with a pack of uniformed equestrians in hot pursuit.
The occasion is a tournament in pacific palisades, at the emerald green polo field in will rogers state park.Questel is riding this day with a team of corporate executives, doctors and lawyers, but he’s not one of them.
He’s a hired gun.
Like half a dozen other professional polo players who are regulars at will rogers, questel makes his living tournament to tournament paid by well heeled amateur teammates, called patrons, to bolster their competitive play.
The life of such pros, who number about 500 http://www.rcamb.com.au/ nationwide, belies polo’s image as the sport of royalty, the rich and the famous.Most play without guaranteed contracts.They receive no medical insurance in a sport in which serious injuries abound.And their expenses, which include keeping a string of several ponies, are steep.
In fact, most polo pros make barely enough to get by.Only about 100 of the professionals who belong to the united states polo assn.Earn enough to do nothing but play the game.
“It’s the lot of the average polo pro, the ones who aren’t getting the top jobs and are below the elite level, to just make a living,”Says edward scanlon, treasurer of the polo association, the governing body of the sport.
It’s a message questel constantly hammers home to manuel, his 10 year old son. “I tell him every night to go to school and study hard to be someone, not to play polo,”Says the moorpark resident, who also has two daughters. “It’s too hard to make a living. ”
The polo circuit isn’t the first place one would expect complaints about hard economic times.Described as the sport of kings, polo is decidedly upscale, as the membership of the will rogers polo club attests.
The club counts among its members real estate developers and financiers, a television producer, a surgeon, a manager of rock ‘n’ roll bands, several corporate ceos and a string of attorneys.Sonny sassoon, vidal’s son, belongs.
It’s definitely the mercedes and bmw crowd, though will rogers polo club is less exclusive than most.At one of the club’s recent tournaments, picnickers lined the field, many of them eating pink boxed lunches and sipping wine.A number of women in the crowd wore sun dresses and straw hats, and men sported golf shirts and khakis.
“There is affluence here, but in a non pretentious sort of way,”Says westside resident john greer, who was at will rogers with his wife, carrie, to watch the match. “I would like to get involved in the sport if i had the wealth to do it. ”
Yet for most pros generally one or two of whom play on each four member team polo is no windfall.Although pros with the best handicaps \o7(See sidebar, page 15)\f7 command large fees, the majority do not.Questel, clearly better than his amateur teammates but in the middle rank among pros, earns from $700 to $1, 000 for a two day weekend tournament at will rogers.That, players say, is the average range of pay for someone at his skill level.
The earnings vary depending on how often tournaments are held.Another factor is location.In southern california, tournaments in santa barbara and indio attract wealthier patrons, who pay more to have a pro on their teams.
And the lifestyle is not that of a high flying professional athlete.Like many other pros, questel, 39, hauls his own horse trailer with a pickup, traveling to polo tournaments across ralph lauren sale australia southern california in trips that each last up to four or five days.From january until the end of april, he plays often in indio, where there are roughly 17 fields and some of the biggest money that california polo has to offer.From may to july, he plays frequently in santa barbara.Then he competes at will rogers through october, when the season ends.
Keeping a horse which means paying for stable space, grooming, feeding, shoeing and veterinary service costs an average of $4, 800 a year, pros say.Tack equestrian equipment such as saddles and bridles is another $1, 000.The wooden mallets, which break frequently, run about $95 each.
Then there are the polo club memberships that pros must pay if their patrons do not pay for them.The will rogers polo club charges about $3, 000 a year, or $250 a month inexpensive compared to some clubs, where membership can cost $18, 000 or more a year.
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